Elder Reeder Down Under

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The last week of this transfer has been great, as always. We're still working hard with our investigators, and still seeing people progress in the gospel.

We had the privilege of seeing several small miracles occur in our area this week: Eyron, Hailey's father, received the priesthood yesterday! That was a great experience for him :) Also, we had an opportunity to teach the sister of another recent convert about the Book of Mormon, and she accepted one! We're hopeful that in the near future, she will begin to learn about the gospel herself. Things are still continuing to look up for this area, because it is ON FIRE. Ward Council meeting yesterday was very focused on missionary work.
We have been working very hard, every moment of every day, and I'm glad to see the results of it happening here in Dianella stake. The mission has been on fire as well!

These last few days have been pretty funny, too. I'll save details for later, but I will say that apparently I have been really good at hiding the fact I'm at a certain point in my mission. Just about Nobody knew until Sunday. (It was pretty funny, actually.)

Elder Ward's been assigned as the new district leader here! He's a bit nervous about it. He'll be a great leader for this district, though.

I will end my last email by saying that I'm very happy and humbled that I have been able to serve as a missionary for our Heavenly Father. I'm grateful for the gospel in my life, and I'm glad that I am sharing that same message of happiness to others. I know that it has blessed my life, and the lives of those I have shared it with.

I love you all very much, and I will see you at a certain point in the very near future :D

G'day, family and friends! 'Tis been a great week down under here in the outback! This has been week 5 of the transfer, and we've been going at it full speed.

Here's a bit of what's been going on:

We're still meeting with Klea and Nicholetta. They're still working on their situation with visas, etc. I am astounded with how much effort the ward has been putting into helping them! Our ward mission leader has been amazing- giving Klea lifts home from work, inviting them for dinner with his family, etc. Several families have really taken them under their wings.

Yesterday, right before church, Hailey returned with her dad. Unfortunately, she doesn't have permission from her mum to be baptised. She's still optomistic, though, and everyone's still very supportive of her. She'll continue to come to church, and we'll keep teaching her as well, she loves the gospel.

We've had some other ups and downs as well- 3 of our investigators dropped us this week. One in particular, Siniell, texted us, thanked us for our time, but said he just wasn't really interested in doing anything. We had a good experience teaching him, though, and I think in the long run that he will remember what we taught.

We had a couple of small miracles, though! A young woman, 18 years old, named Elizabeth, has been in contact with missionaries for several months. She's from the Phillipines, where half of her relatives are members. We've been trying for AGES to meet with her, because she is so keen to learn! Finally, we found her home- she's back from the phillipines (holiday), and she'd been meeting with missionaries there, too! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her, and she said she wanted to be baptised. We've set a date for March 22nd :)
Also, this last sunday, a member came up to us- Her niece just returned from Kalgoorlie, and would like to be baptised as well! We're going to start teaching her on Tuesday.

I'm so happy! Even while we experience trials, we have blessings as we keep on working through them.

Behold, there is much to do. I will sign off for now, and wish you all the best for the coming week!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Elder Ward and I have been spending a lot of time this week, over at the Dianella Chapel! Tuesday, we had a zone meeting. Then, Wednesday, President Lindsay had some specialised training with us missionaries. We focused on how to better teach our investigators, through using the scriptures (Introducing the scripture, reading it together, and explaining and applying it to their situation), asking questions, and listening to them and the spirit. We all learned a lot. I learned from my companion how a simple definition of a word can really open up a verse to someone.

Saturday, there was a baptism! This is a cool story: A lady named Jenna moved from Darwin a few months ago to Perth, to start over her life with her and her 8 year old son. Soon, she met the missionaries, and accepted the gospel! While she was being taught, she met a man named Robert, became friends with him, and shared the gospel with him. He was just baptised 2 weeks ago, and this last Saturday, after receiving the priesthood, he baptised Jenna's son, Michael. What a miracle!

Sunday was Ward Conference. It was also a really good sunday with everyone's investigators! 10, including a family of 6, showed up for the conference. That evening, we had the opportunity to attend the Pacific Area Presidency leadership broadcast, with Elder James J. Hamula, O. Vincent Haleck, and Kevin W. Pearson. They provided some great training and counsel for the wards to help involve the members in missionary work.

We're still working with Klea, Nicholetta, and Hailey :) Hailey is still getting ready for her baptism. She's with her mum this week.

Sorry it's a bit of a short email this week, we've got some things we need to get done today.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

That subject line has nothing to do with this email; except it was Groundhog day yesterday.

Hi, everyone! Long time no hear? (It's only been 4 days since the last time I emailed.)

Since Thursday, things have still been keeping along at a brisk pace here in Noranda. Elder Ward and I finally managed to get a new copy of our ward directory, which we were in sore need of- the old one was from last June, and since I've been here, at least 4 families have moved into the ward :) So now we have a better idea of who is actually in our area. We've found a couple of less-active members on that list, that invited us back! So that's good news.

Dianella Ward is really starting to get the hang of missionary work- We discussed beginning an english class taught by the ward missionaries, to help with the increasing numbers of non-english speaking members, nonmembers, etc. Recently the mission has been seeing an incredible amount of baptisms of people from Persia, Korea, Japan, the Phillipines, Serbia, etc. etc.! It's great.

Short story: We were looking for a house, and came across a spider. A BIG ONE. Like small tarantula sized. Elder Ward took a picture of it, and a lady came out of her house, and chatted with us about said spider. We talked for a bit- she leaves the spiders because they eat the bugs- and then her husband came out. With a can of Mortein (bug spray) and a blowtorch. Combine those two and I think you can guess what happened next :D

Siniell, Klea and Nicholetta, and Hailey are all doing great! We had another lesson with Siniell- we read 3 Nephi 11 with him, and talked about Jesus' purpose in coming. He brought up baptism. We asked him if it was something he'd ever thought about, and he said he hadn't. We invited him to think on it, and to think about what he should do.

We had a lesson with Klea and Nicholetta on Friday- We're going to be postponing their baptismal dates, for now. They're so eager to go through with it! The ward is very supportive and helpful of them as well. The only thing holding them back right now is Visas- Nicholetta may have to return to Albania in a few months, and certain circumstances mean that we need to make sure she'll be all right first. But they're still very much a part of the ward :) The Evans family, in particular, have really befriended them, giving them rides to church, etc.

So yeah, that's been the last few :) Today we're all going to King's park, as a zone, for a dinosaur-themed scavenger hunt. (Our Zone leaders are awesome.) And then, for the first time ever, I will get to go INSIDE PERTH CITY. AND LOOK AT IT.

I love you all! Stay safe, wear sunscreen, and don't ski into any trees!

Friday, January 31, 2014

Monday was Australia Day, so the libraries were closed, etc. Elder Ward and I have seen so many miracles happening around here, and we have been incredibly blessed to see such success happening in the Noranda area.

Klea and Nicholetta are doing awesomely. They're ready for their baptism next week, and they're excited for it :) We taught them about the ten commandments last week, and Nicholetta, the mum, was astounded when we talked about keeping the sabbath day holy. Her husband, who is in Albania, has been doing that his whole life, and now, she told us, she understood why! The ward has been great with fellowship, and they've made a lot of friends here.

We've got another baptismal date! Eyron Doust, a recent convert here, has a daughter named Hailey. She told us after a lesson that she wanted to learn and be baptised as well! Exctiting. Her date is set for February 22 :) We just need to get permission from her mum.

So many things are happeneing here! I can't even mention all the miracles we've been having. I just feel so blessed to be here at this time, to be able to be a missionary for the Lord.

Today was great! We had the privilege of attending the temple here in Perth, today. I'd been hoping for this last chance, and I'm glad I was able to go inside again.

Tonight, we will be meeting with another part-member family, to teach another new investigator named Mick, from Greece. His son, Ryan, was just baptised recently as well.

President Lindsay has established a mission statement, or "vision," for the mission, which was a focal point in our recent Zone Conference. "We are Full-Purpose missionaries who prepare increasing numbers of God's children for sacred ordinances from baptism through temple covenants. And because we ACT in faith and obedience, God is With us in the work. Make it Happen!"

True.

I love you all! For those of you who are wondering whereabouts I am right now, it's 8/25 Stewart Way, Noranda. Also, of interest, we actually live about 3 minutes away from President Lindsay, at the mission home! It's 27 Hollister way, Noranda.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Holy cow, (or, if you want to go Reeeally aussie, you could say "Stone the Crows!") it is hot out here!
G'day, everybody! It is definitely summer out here! The last few days have seen temperatures of around 40C! I found out that my helmet has been saving me from sunburned face most of the time- but I left it in Rockingham for a couple of days, and I paid for it. Word of advice to all: Sunscreen more than once a day is definitely not a bad idea.

Anyway! This week has been incredible! Transfers happened, and I am now in Noranda, with Elder Ward! He is awesome. Elder Ward is from Logan, Utah, and has been out for 3 months. He played the clarinet in marching band. (What are the odds of that?) We've been getting along really well. He's also a really hard worker, so we've been hitting the area hard, too.

We've got 2 baptismal dates in this area! Their names are Clea and Nicholetta, a mum and her daughter. They are from Albania, and have been here for only about 7 months. It's so cool to teach them; they're both so willing to learn about and to follow Jesus Christ! They're getting baptised on the 8th of February.

We also had a really cool experience tracting this week. We met a young guy named Siniell, who told us to come back in a couple of days. We did, and he invited us in! He didn't really have much of an expectation or reason to do so, he said, he was just curious to hear what we had to say. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the gospel. He really paid attention when we explained about the book of mormon, and said that he would definitely be reading it himself. He invited us back to learn more! We're excited for him :)

So far this transfer has gone pretty well. My only wish is that it would cool down a bit. Again, there is no air-con in our flat. This one heats up quite a bit, too.

We're having a zone conference this Thursday, so that's something to look forward to again. Also, in March, apparently, Elder James Hamula, of the seventy, is coming to the mission again!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Good morning, all you wonderful folks! Today is the dawning of a new morning, a beautiful summer's day, and a new transfer! I've been excited for these next few weeks here in Rockingham East. I really love this area, and especially the members here! We've been really starting to work well with them, and some results were just seen this past weekend, with the baptism of Brother Hodges, who's joined his family in the gospel :) Last night Brother Hodges then had the opportunity to baptise his son, who is 8.

So yes, great things are happening here.

HOWEVER! Very unexpectedly, transfers happened! I've been assuming that I'll be staying in Rockingham for the duration. Everyone's assumed that, actually :D However, that is not to be. Turns out, I'm being transferred up to Noranda area, with Elder Ward as my companion. That's right, back up to Dianella Zone, somewhere I've been before, too! Interesting. I'll miss this place a lot, but I know that Elder Liehr and his new companion, Elder Shin, and the other new missionaries in the other area will be very good for the members and investigators here.

Hey! Also, it's my birthday! I appear to be 21.

I love you all!

I'm planning on making this next transfer the best EVER, wherever I am.